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POEA charges Ylagan with massive illegal recruitment

15 March 2018

By Daisy CL Mandap

Ylagan is caught on camera counting money paid by an applicant

The world has just gotten smaller for Ester P. Ylagan.

The 65-year-old recruiter accused of fleecing no less than
200 overseas Filipino workers of tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for
non-existent jobs in Canada
and Britain
two years ago, has just been charged by Philippine authorities with illegal
recruitment.

Ylagan used to co-own with her late husband Emry's Service Staff Employment Agency, the biggest recruiter of Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong. She also owned Mike's Secretarial Services, which she used in her apparent recruitment scam.

In a memorandum dated Mar 13, the Philippine Overseas
Employment Administration informedLabor
Attache Jalilo dela Torre that a criminal case for illegal recruitment had been
filed against Ylagan with the Department of Justice.

In addition, two administrative
charges were filed against her: one for “unjustifiably collecting fees from the
workers”, and another for “committing a felony or crime punishable by the laws
of the Philippines
or the host country.

Under Philippine laws, illegal
recruitment is a serious offence for which the maximum penalty could be life in
prison. Bail could also be withheld for one charged with the gravest form of
the offence.

Contacted by The SUN on the phone,
POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia confirmed that the information filed against
Ylagan was for “syndicated illegal recruitment”, meaning the case against her
involved at least three alleged victims. Because of this, Ylagan will be held
without bail once a warrant of arrest is issued against her.

He said that it was up to the DOJ
to file the case in court, after which an arrest warrant could be issued once
“probable cause” is established.

“I will still have to find out if
the DOJ has already made that determination,” Olalia said.

Around 10 Filipinos, many of them
relatives of OFWs in Hong Kong, have filed complaints with the POEA against
Ylagan, who allegedly charged between $10,000 and $15,000 for bogus jobs in Britain and Canada.

Some of them personally brought
their complaints directly to Olalia late last year, when he was still

acting
POEA administrator. They were accompanied to the meeting by migrants rights
advocate Susan Ople, who has been keeping tabs on the case.

At least 200 more OFWs have filed
complaints against her with Hong Kong police.
On Mar. 11, the police began looking at the case in earnest after a group of
lawyers divulged in a media interview that Ylagan could have also engaged in
big-stakes money laundering, partly using the money paid her by the applicants.

Olalia also confirmed that one of
the administrative charges being pursued against Ylagan was for her “unlawful
exaction of fees”, for which the maximum penalty would be the cancellation of
her license.

However, this charge may have
become moot when she voluntarily ceased operations after POLO Hong Kong
cancelled her accreditation, meaning she could no longer recruit Filipinos for
work in the city.

The other administrative charge,
over a felony or crime she may have committed in the Philippines
or Hong Kong, could be over the money
laundering allegation against her.

Documents shared with The SUN by
the group looking into this angle showed Ylagan, along with her two sons, a son’s
girlfriend and former staff members, appeared to have moved millions of dollars
to places as far apart as Nigeria and Malaysia. The documents have been turned
over to Hong Kong authorities who are looking
into the case.

Some of the applicants who sought help from HK Police

Meanwhile, the police in Hong Kong have begun interviewing around 80 OFWs who had
complained against Ylagan’s apparent recruitment scam as early as July 2016.

A total of 32 OFWs were reportedly
interviewed and asked to submit additional documents during the whole-day
session held at the Central Harbourfront Station on Mar. 11. The others are
being called for similar interviews this coming Sunday, Mar. 18.

Up until this time, Ylagan managed
to avoid going to court, despite being the subject of numerous complaints from
Filipinos – in Hong Kong, Macau and the Philippines – who claimed to have
paid her thousands of dollars for the fictitious jobs she offered.

It appeared Ylagan charged
HK$15,000 for each job applicant to Canada,
and HK$10,000 for those who wished to work in Britain. Several applicants claimed
they paid her for multiple placements, in hopes of bringing along their
relatives back in the Philippines
to their dream destination.

Failing to get her arrested for
fraud, the applicants took their case to the Small Claims Tribunal, where
Ylagan sent representatives to contest the claims, while she slipped out to the
Philippines
in mid-July 2016.

Before leaving, she filed a
complaint with the Hong Kong police against a business associate she named as
“William Clinton James”, who she claimed, was the one who made her do the
recruitment for the bogus jobs.

Ylagan said Clinton James made her send
nearly $8 million cash to unknown people in Burkina Faso, on the promise that
he had jobs waiting for her recruits. For her effort, she was supposed to get a
British passport, 15 plane tickets to London,
and a chance to explore business opportunities in the United Kingdom.

At the Tribunal, about two dozen
claimants were awarded their claims until Ylagan, though a representative,
succeeded in getting all the claims transferred to the District Court early
last year.

A TV news report in the Philippines about the cases pending against her
in Hong Kong succeeded in flushing Ylagan out of hiding in Manila. She returned to Hong Kong in December
last year, and immediately went to the police to file another complaint; this
time, against her ertswhile friend, Ody Apostol Lai, who allegedly used deception to
get a flat formerly owned by Ylagan and her late husband transferred in her
name.

The two-bedroom Aberdeen flat, which costs around $6.5 million
at market rates, is being sought by Ylagan’s applicants for attachment so their
claims could be satisfied. The applicants have been granted Legal Aid in
pursuing their case against Ylagan.

The next hearing of the claims
before the District Court has been set for May this year.